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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113156">Safer Spaces</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltyRum/pseuds/MeltyRum'>MeltyRum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Happy Sugar Life (Anime &amp; Manga), Loveless, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cooking, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:01:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,205</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltyRum/pseuds/MeltyRum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rather than Satou, Shio ends up in the hands of Youji Sagan... who rooms with Ryuji.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Boku no Hero Academia x Persona</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Safer Spaces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been maybe twenty minutes since Youji had fallen asleep, his head propped up on Shio’s lap as she lovingly stroked his hair and ears, barely paying any attention to the television which quietly droned on before them. The cat-boy had been working some later nights than usual, so Shio always made sure to cherish the moments where the two of them could relax a little bit—well, not that she did anything <em>except</em> relax, being more or less constrained to the space that existed within Youji and Ryuji’s apartment, where very little was ever asked of her.</p><p>Sure, sometimes she’d be allowed to take care of a little light cleaning with a feather duster—or to do very simple tasks when assisting Youji-kun in the kitchen—but most of her life consisted of watching television and spending time with the cat boy when he was home. Sometimes he would even let her play on his phone, like when she had been allowed to look at pictures of Stella.</p><p>It was a better life than the one she had come from, she had to admit. She missed mom, but she could not equivocate on the fact that Youji-kun treated her better than her family had. The television alone made for a welcoming amenity that she was not used to! She was, even with her limited understanding of child care, a little bit surprised that she had never seen herself come up on the news… but on the other hand, it quickly became clear that there was so much happening in the world that she had been unaware of, so it made sense that anything in her life was unlikely to make broadcast. She had known of heroes, yes, but never heard much about their activity when she had been cohabiting with her mother. Likewise, she had had no idea of the frequent overtures by villains to overturn what should be an otherwise peaceful society.</p><p>Maybe Youji-kun and mom were right: it was very dangerous outside. Not a place she should go.</p><p>This worried her a bit, not because she wanted to go outside (she did, to some degree) but because Youji had been working later and later nights, these days. He assured her that this was due to work, and she wondered if that work was for <em>her</em>. Hopefully he wasn’t having to push himself any harder just because Shio was living with him, now. She just didn’t want him to get into any trouble—but tried to find comfort in reminding herself that, if he did, a hero would probably be able to step in and help him out.</p><p>Still, even if Youji’s long nights were spent at his job, she could not begin to guess as to what kind of work it was. Probably important adult things, since she doubted he was waiting tables that late every day. Sometimes he even came home smelling a little funny—kind of like smoke. And some days he would come home even later and end up burning a handful of paper sheets at the stove; whenever she asked about it, he refused to tell her what they were, instead informing her with a smile that it was nothing to worry about. She doubted that, though—a doubt informed by the very serious look on his face as he carried out this duty—but knew that Youji had his reasons for hiding it.</p><p>She just hoped they were good ones!</p><p>And since Skull’s schedule meant he was often out of the home fighting crime, it meant that Shio spent most of her time alone. Being alone was probably better than being cooped up with a mother whom she continued to fail, but it was hard for her to shake the feeling that she was simply a fixture of the apartment—like another piece of furniture.</p><p>Not that she minded, as such. She reflected on it often, but Youji took good care of her and she still had that television for company,so the worst part of being lonely was missing him while he was out.</p><p>He was a nice boy, always happy to let her pet his ears and tail when he was around. She strongly suspected that he liked it even more than she did, so she was ever-happy to provide affectionate scratches to him wherever and whenever he pleased. Youji-kun was simply very fundamentally different than anyone she had ever met before—which made sense, considering her previous pool of connections pretty much only numbered the people in her immediate family.</p><p>The most immediately noticeable contrasts were these: everyone in her family was cracked and broken, the contents of their jars slowly spilling out, unless they were unlucky enough to have already been emptied entirely. If their hearts, by some miracle, ever found themselves refilled, it never took long for everything to drain away—their vessels were simply too damaged to contain any love for very long.</p><p>Youji-kun’s, on the other hand, was pristine in condition, with no cracks or blemishes of note; the rub, then, was that his jar—well-constructed though it may be—was still nearly empty, its contents neither growing nor shrinking significantly over time. Sometimes, however, she could see a few new morsels tumble down into place when they spent time together, which reassured her that—unlike with mom—her presence seemed to be good for him.</p><p>With her thighs beginning to ache from supporting Youji-kun’s head, she decided this might be a good moment to make her escape. Taking one of the throw pillows in hand, she carefully slid out from beneath him while at the same time trying to gently wedge the pillow into the space she had just been occupying—for Youji’s comfort, of course. Then, after taking one of the thin blankets folded by the wooden stand which hosted the television, she carefully tossed it over him, tugging at the edges so that he was nearly totally covered. While they usually used this for making their vows, she was glad it could double as something to keep him warm.</p><p>After a nod of satisfaction with the coverage, Shio wandered through the rest of the apartment, stopping only for a moment at the front door to wonder what might be going on on the other side. She was a good girl, though—she had no intention of leaving unaccompanied; that had gotten her into plenty of trouble with her mother, so she didn’t need to go troubling Youji-kun too.</p><p>She decided to busy herself with reorganizing the products in the shower room, which she generally already kept nice and tidy. This had actually quickly become one of her favorite spots in the apartment, since she and Youji could bathe together. Mom had stopped doing that sometime around Shio’s last birthday—which was also when mother spent most of her time fretting and stressing over Shio’s presence. Until she had done it with Youji-kun, Shio hadn’t realized how much she had missed sharing a warm bath with someone.</p><p>Plus, they could help wash each others’ hard-to-reach places! Maybe because he had to take care of his ears and tail, but Youji could be very thorough in making sure they were both clean.</p><p>Predictably, there wasn’t actually much reorganizing to be done, so her work in the bathroom quickly came to a close. She chose the kitchen as her next destination, although she wasn’t tall enough to have easy access to most of the important tools.</p><p>But… since Youji was so tired, maybe she could try making their dinner for the night! As long as she found something helpful to stand on, there was <em>probably</em> enough food within her stubby reach to make something workable. Having decided this, she took the apron off of the oven handle and slipped it on, paying no mind to the fact that it went well past her feet and pooled at the floor before her. Fortunately, there was a nice, sturdy, unopened box of powdered detergent under the sink, which—with some difficulty—she managed to drag in front of the range, since it would make the perfect stool.</p><p>After the laborious process of locating a pan and utilitarian-looking wooden spoon, she stood upon her detergent and pondered for a minute about how to start—when she heard the front door open.</p><p>“I’m home!” Ryuji announced as he passed by the kitchen (bringing with him the faint scent of sweat), stopping short at the sight of a little girl in a comically over-sized apron brandishing a spoon at her cold pan.</p><p>“Uh… what’s going on over here, Shio-chan?” he asked, at his usual volume.</p><p>She promptly put a stern finger to her lips. “Shh!” she whispered, before giving him a welcoming smile. “Welcome home, Ryuji-kun!” She pointed meaningfully with her spoon toward the little living area. “Youji-kun is sleeping, so I’m making dinner,” she announced as quietly as she could.</p><p>“That makes sense. What exactly are you making, there?” he asked, nervously looking at her empty pan as though worried he was missing something obvious.</p><p>She stroked her chin with her free hand, glancing back to the pan as she let her imagination start to fill in what <em>should</em> be there. “Um… we don’t have eggs, so maybe ketchup fried rice?”</p><p>“That’ll be hard to do without rice,” he said, chuckling a little as he checked the rice cooker. “I’ll fill it up. And I’m not sure someone as young as you should be fryin’ anything; how about I give you a hand?”</p><p>“Okay!”</p><p>“Alright,” he said, giving a relieved grin at her enthusiastic agreement. “It looks like we’ve got some chicken left, so I’ll take care of that too; I bet we can have you chop some veggies, though,” he said, digging through the utensil drawer to find the little nylon knife that Youji had purchased for her.</p><p>While she preferred cooking with Youji, she had to admit that helping Ryuji was a lot of fun, too. She’d heard Youji make some occasional murmurs about finding a new place, and—while that sounded exciting—she would miss the Phantom when they left. Living with a hero made her feel safe, after all! Not that she didn’t trust Youji to protect her, too—Youji was the one who had saved her from that weird police man, which is something that she suspected Ryuji wouldn’t be able to do.</p><p>Not to mention Ryuji just had less of a need for her; he and Shio weren’t as close to each other, but it was also clear—even to Shio—that the hero was not starved for rich relationships. His jar was so sturdy and thick as to be nearly opaque, and the abundance of its contents was an impressive sight to behold; while far from overflowing, he would not be emptied out any time soon. This all added up tomake Ryuji feel ‘different’ from her and Youji, as though his life was already more <em>complete</em>. Shio wouldn’t be able to slowly fill him with sweets like she could with Youji-kun—or if she did, the impact would be unnoticeable.</p><p>And that was probably for the best, she decided. Her cuddly cat-boy was more than enough for her!</p><p>Even while having to share the meager counter-space with the cook, it didn’t take long for Shio to complete her tasks, so she carefully organized the little piles of minced veggies for Ryuji as she watched him light the same stove that Youji always used to dispose of his papers.</p><p>“Alright—you might want to stand back, Shio-chan. Don’t want any of the oil to splash on ya,” warned Ryuji as he began adding the relevant ingredients. Shio watched for a moment as the food began to darken, taking on that appealing and familiar golden color that everyone liked.</p><p>“Oh—don’t forget the ketchup!” she almost shouted, stepping clumsily off the stool and making for the refrigerator to retrieve it.</p><p>“It doesn’t <em>have</em> to have ketchup, y’know,” he said, laughing a little. “Like you said, we don’t have any eggs, so it’s not gonna be omurice. You don’t like it Chinese style?”</p><p>“I like ketchup!” she assured him with a smile. “It makes it taste sweeter.”</p><p>“I gotcha, I gotcha,” he said, shaking his head in amused exasperation as he took the bottle from her. “Will only be a minute or two before we serve it up. Why don’t you go wake up Youji? He… might get mad if it’s me,” he added, chuckling weakly.</p><p>“Okay!”</p><p>Trying to contain her excitement, she trotted back over to the couch, where she was pleased to find Youji still peacefully in repose. “Youji-kun!” she said, attempting to be both gentle and exuberant as she rocked his shoulder back and forth with both of her little hands. Like many cats, Youji always seemed reluctant to stir once he’d been at rest for too long. But even if he was a little indignant on waking,she liked to think that he enjoyed seeing her smiling face as he blinked himself back into consciousness.</p><p>“Youji-kun,” she repeated, leaning forward to give him a little kiss on the cheek. “We’re going to eat rice now!”</p>
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